Elaine-a young, recent college graduate-attends a conference in Reno, Nevada, which is being sponsored by her new employer, VISTA. Feeling restless one evening, she wanders into the casino and encounters a mysterious stranger at a blackjack table. After a swirling night tainted by broken memories, the stranger disappears, and Elaine returns to her Las Vegas home to begin her new career. In addition to finding passion on the trip, however, she brings home with her enough winnings to purchase a horse (the other great passion of her life) and a secret-she is carrying the mystery man's child. Eric O'Neil, the mysterious stranger from Reno, again meets Elaine at a Las Vegas blood bank (which he owns) several months later. Neither of them is yet aware of the changes growing inside of her, but Eric is changing too, having been turned into a vampire. Together, they renew their love, discover each other's secrets, and decide to marry. But Elaine's new life comes with dangers. Who is the sinister gang of Europeans that is stalking her and trying to kill her new husband? Assisted by her horseback-riding friend, Heather, and the aunt and uncle who raised her since the death of her parents in an auto-train collision years before, she embarks on a voyage of discovery that will reveal to her a war between forces that are as ancient as the Americas-and the prize the battle is over is nothing less than eternal life!